The Warmth of Hot Chocolate
by Xascul
Summary: How do you comfort one so evil, who has lost everything? There is an answer to that.


Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of this fic except the teenage boy at the end, which is supposed to be myself. Ken Akamatsu owns Evangeline McDowell, Sephiroth is the property of Square Enix. The Grinch was created by Dr. Seuss and Ebeneezer Scrooge was created by Charles Dickens.

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The Warmth of Hot Chocolate

Christmas was approaching again in a city in the Midwest of the United States. In the open air shopping district was bustling with activity. Families are walking around trying to find the best deals. A mother is carrying home the Christmas ham, a father is piling a mountain of gifts in his car, and a child is glamoring his parents for the latest video game. Outside a department store, a Salvation Army volunteer is dressed in a Santa suit is ringing a bell, while a passerby drops in some money in the donation box. Nearby, several children are ice skating on a frozen lake. Santa in the North Pole was busy again making a list of all the good children and checking it twice.

Everyone in the town was busy preparing for the Holidays. After all, whether one was Jewish, Muslim or Christian, the Holidays is a time for thanks, and being with the family and the ones you love.

College students who rarely go home to see their parents are joyous to see them again. Long-lost relatives who barely spoke to one another are reunited. All the kids would be celebrating Christmas with their families.

Well, almost every child. There was one little girl however, that would not be celebrating Christmas this year.

She was Evangeline A. K. McDowell. She hated Christmas, even more than the Grinch and Ebeneezer Scrooge. She always topped Santa's naughty list each year, but the other naughty children at least got a piece of coal in their Christmas stockings, and what did she get? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. This wasn't the first time, as she got nothing for more than six centuries.

This year, however, there was going to be a slight change. She was walking around a large plaza lined with dozens of shops. She had on her usual long black cloak tied at the front with a pink ribbon. She got a few stares form people probably wondering what a little girl would be doing all alone in this time.

Evangeline wandered the shops for a while, absentmindedly looking at various things that she would never buy. She say down on a nearby bench to rest in the mid-afternoon. She watched with anger and jealously at the other children. _Why do they all get gifts and I don't? They never had to go through what I did! _

Night soon fell on the city. Evangeline walked through a residential section of city. It was a typical Midwest suburban city with rows upon rows of snow covered homes. Many houses were decorated with multicolored lights that sparkled magnificently against the snow and ice.

Evangeline saw a nearby house with a large window in the front. The lights were on. Curious, she walked up to the house to get a closer look. She peered inside. She could see a large roaring fire on one side of the room, there was a Christmas tree next to that with a mountain of presents piled in neat stacks at its base. There was a family of five preparing for dinner. Evangeline gasped silently. There was a little girl who was looked the same age as Evangeline, give or take a year, who bore a strong physical resemblance to herself: similar facial features, long platinum blond hair and instead of green eyes, she had blue ones. There was one feature that stood out that was in sharp contrast to Eva. She was smiling.

Eva watched her look-alike silently. She sat down in her seat a the table, next to her father. The table was laden with several plates of mashed potatoes, meat loaf, salad and bread. The five said grace and began to eat. Halfway into their meal, the father gets up and walks off into an adjoining room. He comes back a few minutes later with a present wrapped in red gift-wrapping paper complete with a large golden bow. He smiles widely and hands the little girl the present. The little girl is overjoyed at her surprise. She shakes it slightly, listening to any sounds that might hint at the gift inside. Her parents laugh. The little girl sets the gift next to the other gifts under the tree, runs over to her father who scoops her up into his arms and hugs her.

Evangeline gasped, and clutched her chest. For some reason, that act of kindness triggered something where her heart used to be. The cold night air should have reflected her cold and heartless personality and yet, for once, the cold was starting to get to her.

The family did not once look outside their window. If they did, they would be confronted with a sight that would have made even the meanest and hardened criminal cry.

If they had looked outside, they would see a ten-year-old girl standing in six inches of snow, her long hair and black cloak gently billowing against the light breeze. If they looked a little closer, it was the facial expression that would be the icing on the cake if you will to make anyone cry. Her eyes were glassy, glassy from tears threatening to burst. A mouth that quivered and shook sporadically.

Evangeline always claimed she didn't have a heart, and if she had one it would be blacker than the darkest night. Yet she felt an odd sensation in her chest that she had not felt for a long, _long_ time. Though she was the Queen of Ice and Darkness, the air around her suddenly seemed to be much colder. She suddenly shivered. She tried to stop, but she was simply too cold. The most powerful vampire in the world, the infamous Dark Evangel, who was feared across Europe for five centuries, who considered herself the embodiment of darkness itself, a creature who was said to be more evil than the devil himself, started to cry buckets of tears.

It was unfair. She was turned into a vampire against her will on her tenth birthday. She fled her home and her family. Afterwards, she never celebrated her birthday again. Since that fateful day, Evangeline slowly gave into the darkness of being a vampire. Another century later she not only fully embraced the darkness, she _became _the darkness. She grew steadily more powerful each day, and slowly lost her humanity as well. She gained numerous powers and abilities over the centuries, from dark and ice magic, puppet-like manipulation, martial arts and even swordsmanship. But like everything in life, there was a price to be paid, and she did it.

Evangeline was a person who had everything and nothing at all. She had eternal youth, immortality, beauty, fame, and enough power to rival or even surpassed that of Sephiroth and the devil himself. Yet she lost everything. Her family, what few friends she did have, her home, and innocence and her humanity. She constantly yearned for more power. But no matter how powerful the little vampire got, nothing seemed to fill the empty void where her heart used to be.

Even the children at the local orphanage had each other, but what did Evangeline have? Nothing. She was alone. Lonely. No family. No friends. No home.

Evangeline tore her face away from the window and started to run down the cold, snow covered street. Although she was the Mistress of the Night, she had no place to run to, nor any place where she could call home. She kept running until she came across a park. The night was silent. She continued to walk through the crunching snow until she came to a swing set. She walked over and absentmindedly sat down on one of its snow-laden seats and watched the few stray snowflakes that managed to drift through them to the ground. It started to snow, billions of gentle puffs of snow were falling through the air. She shivered and gave pulled her dark cloak tighter. She buried her face in her hands and cried.

_Why am I crying? _She thought to herself. _Why do I still feel sadness? I am the Dark Evangel! I should be making everyone else suffer! I should be the one who'll bring tears to other people's faces! _

She had half a mind to wipe the entire city off the map. Her face stopped crying. She smiled an evil smile. That would be a wonderful plan, just before Christmas came, she would destroy the whole city, and bury the ruins under a blizzard. Then she had a better idea. Her face twisted even more. Instead of destroying the city, which would not stop Christmas from coming again next year, why not erase Christmas for good? She was about to look up the spell, when her conscience took over. She was surprised that she still had conscience after all this time. She shook her head trying to clear her thoughts.

She got up after a while and started walking. Her sight was filled with white specks coming and going as they danced and descended from pale gray clouds. It was a very serene and peaceful vision, but Evangeline did not care one bit. The little vampire was too busy drowning in her own sadness and anger to even notice.

Without realizing it, she ended up in the same shopping center she was in earlier. Somewhere in the distance, bells started ringing the Westminster chime. It was nine o'clock. She walked a little more and collapsed on a bench. She curled up into a ball and hid her face again.

Just across the paved pedestrian area where Eva was sitting was a coffee shop. A teenage boy with glasses and short, dark hair and dark eyes walks up to the counter, "One medium hot chocolate please." He turns slightly to reach for his wallet, he hears a howl of the wind and looks outside the window. He sees the little girl. _She looks sad. _He thought to himself_. _He turns back to the cashier, "Uh, on second thought, make that two medium hot chocolates" he says and hands over the money.

With the two cups of hot chocolate in his hands he walks outside to meet the little girl.

Eva did not hear the sounds of footsteps approaching her. Looking up somewhat startled, she saw the teenage boy standing in front of her. He was dressed in a thick coat and was holding two cups of steaming hot chocolate in both hands.

He held one cup out to her. "Here, have some hot chocolate young miss," he said politely with a smile. "I always find a cup of hot cocoa on cold nights always cheers me up."

Eva took the paper cup of hot chocolate in her small hands from the young man, who blushed and smiled slightly.

"Merry Christmas, and take care," and with that the young man left.

"Thank you," she said as she stood and blew softly on the hot chocolate before taking a sip. It brought a very different sensation that she normally would feel when she sucked blood from one of her victims. Drinking blood gave her energy, life, power. But there was something about the steaming, sweet liquid that blood did not have. _This was the best Christmas I've ever had _she thought.

Although Eva wore mittens, she still was able to feel the warmth of the hot chocolate fill her body. _It's so...warm, s_he thought as she took another sip.

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